This invention relates generally to farm implements more particularly to implements for incorporating surface sprayed soil chemicals into a specified depth of the soil, by mixing. In modern farming practices surface sprayed soil chemicals are used for a variety of purposes but principly as weed killers or herbicides, to incorporate these chemicals into the soil for a specified depth in order for them to be truly effective. In preparing seedbeds for row crops, farmers now frequently incorporate into the top soil shortly before planting, herbicides which can be tolerated by the plant but not by the principle weeds which compete with it. In this type of incorporation, the chemical is put into the seedbed soil evenly.
After planting has occured and the plants have emerged and begun their early growth, additional herbicides are frequently incorporated into the soil, but in this post emergence condition, incorporation must be done only between the rows of growing plants.
A number of different implements have been devised for incorporating surface sprayed soil chemicals into the top soil, the most widely used of which is the power incorporator. In this device, mulching blades are power driven at a rate faster than the rate of travel of the implement and chemical, sprayed on top of the soil ahead of the implement, is stirred into the soil in this manner.
The principal disadvantage of the power incorporator and other presently known devices for incorporating chemicals into the soil is that they stir the soil at least twice as deep as the desired level of incorporation. That is, where a two inch depth of incorporation is desired, the power incorporator and similar devices must dig to a depth of at least 4 inches to accomplish this. This means that the seed bed is soften to a greater depth than is frequently desirable. It also generally results in the use of additional chemical since the chemical is spread over more than merely the desired 2 inch depth and frequently is more unevenly distributed than is desired. Moreover, the power incorporator is expensive to build and operate. A need therefore exists for a reasonable simple, inexpensive farm implement which can incorporate surface sprayed chemical into the soil by working no more of the soil than the desired depth of incorporation. It is therefore a major object of my invention to provide a soil chemical incorporator which incorporates the surface sprayed chemicals into the soil by working the soil only to the depth of the desired incorporation.
It is another important object of my invention to provide an incorporator of the type described in which the incorporator spiders are ground driven rather than power driven and which is therefore considerably less complex and expensive than power driven incorporators. It is a further object of my invention to provide an incorporator of the type described which utilizes gangs of incorporator spiders, each gang consisting of a front line of spiders disposed at an acute angle to one side of the direction of travel and a rear line of spiders disposed at an acute angle to the other side of the direction of travel and aligned to catch the dispensed by the front line of spiders. It is still another object of my invention to provide an incorporator spider having a plurality of radial arms with incorporator blades on their distilled ends.
It is still a further object of my invention to provide an incorporator of the type described which can be assembled with a tractor on a three point suspension hitch in the same manner as a gang of disc blades.